This invention relates to a pre-paid card system for purchasing products or services. In particular, it relates to a system for the payment of transactions on an electronic or computer network, such as the Internet.
With increasing use of the Internet for the purchase of goods and services, a secure method of payment has become of primary importance. The most common method of payment at the present time is with a credit card. Although some progress has been made to render credit card transactions safe, there is still considerable resistance to the use of this method of payment, not only because it requires the transmission of account details over a public network, which exposes the account to unauthorized use, but also because it lacks the anonymity that a cash transaction provides.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an alternative method of payment without the above-mentioned difficulties.
According to the invention there is provided a pre-paid card system for purchasing products or services, comprising a plurality of cards, each card having a unique identity number associated therewith and a readable memory on the card containing the identity number, the cards further having different purchasing values, for one-time use only; a host computer provided with a database for storing the identity numbers of the cards and their associated one-time purchasing values and including an indicator corresponding with each identity number which can be switched from an inactive state, in which its associated card is not available for use in payment for goods or services, to an activated state in which its associated card is available for use in the payment of goods or services; at least one activation terminal provided with means for reading the identity number of a card from the memory on the card; means for connecting the terminal to the host computer to transfer the identity number which has been read from the card to the host computer; means for comparing the identity number transferred from the activation terminal with the identity numbers in the database of the host computer for matching the transferred identity number with an identity number in the database and switching the corresponding record from said inactive to said activated state if a matching identity number with a corresponding indicator in the inactive state is found; at least one merchant computer associated with a merchant offering a product or service for sale, said merchant computer being provided with a database containing details of said product or service for sale, including the price of the product or service; means for receiving input from a purchaser identifying the product or service of said merchant being purchased and identifying the identity number of a card for use in payment of the purchase; means for transferring the identity number identified by said purchaser to the host computer; and means for comparing the identity number identified by the purchaser with the identity numbers in the database of the host computer for matching the identity number identified by the purchaser with an identity number in the database to validate the purchase if a matching identity number with a corresponding indicator in the activated state is found which is associated with a card having a purchasing value which is at least equal to the price of the product or service being purchased and disqualifying the associated card for payment of a further purchase, irrespective of whether the purchasing value of the card is equal to or larger than the purchase price.
The readable memory on the card may be contained in a magnetic strip, laser strip or other machine readable means.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for purchasing products or services, comprising a host computer having means for generating a plurality of unique identity numbers associated with different purchasing values, for one-time use only, the host computer further being provided with a database for storing the computer generated identity numbers and their associated one-time purchasing values; at least one merchant computer associated with a merchant offering a product or service for sale, said merchant computer being provided with a database containing details of said product or service for sale, including the price of the product or service; means for receiving input from a purchaser identifying the product or service of said merchant being purchased and identifying one of said computer generated identity numbers for use in payment of the purchase; means for transferring the identity number identified by said purchaser to the host computer; and means for comparing the identity number identified by the purchaser with the identity numbers in the database of the host computer for matching the identity number identified by the purchaser with an identity number in the database to validate the purchase if a matching identity number is found which is associated with a purchasing value which is at least equal to the price of the product or service being purchased and disqualifying the identity number for payment of a further purchase, irrespective of whether the purchasing value of the identity number is equal to or larger than the purchase price.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention below.